West Bromwich Albion

Revitalise the Premier: expand Chelsea, Manchester, Arsenal hierarchy, send bottom six down

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Jake: 'but will this work for us?'
Jake: ‘but will this work for us?’

Ordinary Jon, aka Jon Adamson, Sunderland supporter and football blogger******, was bored rigid by the vaunted Premier League last season. Even our customary great escape left him feeling there’d been only two or three SAFC games worth remembering and that ours wasn’t even the great escape anyway. His recipe for making life at the top more exciting, and life at the bottom more troublesome, follows. It will suit some appetites, it may cause acute indigestion and it could be too tongue-in-cheek to win votes on Come Dine With Me. Bland fare it is not …

The dullest season since the Premier League began suggests radical action is required. Here’s a five point plan to bring some excitement back into the beautiful product.

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Pure Poyetry Sunderland 0 West Brom 0: Gus happy with the players’ response

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Jake: 'better, but no cigar'
Jake: ‘better, but no cigar’
Malcolm Dawson writes….Well it was either the Stadium of Light or Ironworks Road, Tow Law for me today. £25 v £2 a probable 0-0 draw or the certainty of goals. No contest in the end and here I am grabbing a quick cuppa just back from the match, about to set off for an evening of curry and naan bread in the company of M Salut, up for the game today and Lord Peter Sixsmith who as ever was in his place in the East Stand. I’ve seen worse 0-0 draws. The crowd was definitely behind the team and those who were disgruntled kept their counsel. The starting line up looked more solid defensively which allowed Johnson and Alvarez to hug the touchlines. It looked to me from the other end of the ground that Lescott should have seen red and Johnno’s goal didn’t look offside either. The ref was again poor all over the pitch and Defoe was hauled down near the end for what should have been a penalty, but I shall wait until after I’ve seen a recorded MOTD on my return from the Garden of India before I decide he was totally inept. Gus as ever was upbeat and probably relieved there were no boos as the team walked off. Here’s his customary post match missive to M Salut and a few others on his e-mail list.

Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox

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Sunderland vs West Bromwich Albion: save our Sixer

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Sixer, incongruously in green, and Sobs endure yet another gormless away performance. Guess which one and you may win a mug (usual exemptions)
Sixer, incongruously in green, and Sobs endure yet another gormless away performance. Guess which one and you may win a mug (usual exemptions)

How many times over recent seasons have we talked about a forthcoming game as one that defines the season?

It has been often, and always because Sunderland have been in dire trouble or on the edge of it. So the matches in question have tended to be at home, either clear six-pointers or against teams we just have to beat to get points on the board before tougher tests ahead.

WBA on Saturday is another such tie. Losing it will not send us down, just make it seem less likely that we will once again drag ourselves clear of the mire. No one should rely on sensational displays of the kind we saw last season at Manchester United (next game up after the Baggies) and Chelsea. Winning would not necessarily keep us up.

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Still seeking Justice for Jeff as West Bromwich Albion visit Sunderland

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SAFCvWBA

Every so often, a noble cause brings opposing sets of supporters together and Saturday’s game against WBA offers a chance for one such display of solidarity. This is a slightly updated version of the posting contributed by Salut! Sunderland’s deputy editor Malcolm Dawson and which, we are pleased to report, has been seen by Jeff Astle’s family …

When I was a kid I watched the FA Cup Final on TV religiously. It was virtually the only live televised football available to those of us growing up in the fifties and sixties.

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SAFC vs WBA Guess the Score: 50 Shades of unbearable hope

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Jake says: 'can we get anything right?'
Jake says: ‘can we get anything right?’

Decades of Sunderland support should bring an element of gallows humour to anyone’s personality. If our situation were not so dire, or so familiar, it would be wall-to-wall fun, which it isn’t.

But I’ve still enjoyed the doom-laden banter here since Bradford (actually you could insert your own team name after “since” as there have been so many: Watford, West Ham, Notts Co, Wimbledon, Brentford, Southampton, Palace, QPR, Everton, Ipswich, Norwich all spring to mind and I have barely begun).

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